Saturday, June 13, 2009

Epic Cleaning FAIL

I had reminded her numerous times over the last week to get her room cleaned & her stuff together.

Alas, to no avail!

Not only was the room not clean, she hadn't even begun to pack up for moving out! Granted, she'll be living there again next year, and she's paid rent through the summer, so it's still her apartment, but STILL!!

She hadn't even pulled the power cord on her computer! Ack!!!

Add to this the question: "Mom, did I give you my passport?" She had needed it to get a new Oregon ID card because the old one had expired. I didn't think she'd given the passport back, after all, she *is* an adult now. Still, we couldn't find it after three searches through the "important papers" box, so I called home & asked Trevor to check the file cabinet. He found the envelope with the other passports - only four. He even checked all the pages to see if one might be Diana's - nope!

So, during all the packing & cleaning, we also had to check every inch of the room for her passport!! She had put it in a "safe place." That would have been the 'important papers' box for me - for her, it was a diary in her jewelry drawer - but at least she found it!!

What I expected to take 15 minutes of loading up & 15 minutes of cleaning turned into 3 hours total. We still have to go back after we get home from Canada & give the room a thorough cleaning. This was just sweeping up all the crap on the floor. Why were there even snack package bags on the floor in the first place??? I honestly feel I failed as a mom, trying to teach my kid to keep a neat room!!! And Trevor is just as bad!!!

Out of all our kids, Connor is definitely the most neat. But that probably has more to do with the fact that he re-wears most of his clothes for days on end (except underwear - he changes that daily) unless I tell him to change, and he really only likes playing with video games or the computer - neither of which makes much of a mess.

I am not sure how to get an 18-year old who lives on her own to clean her room more regularly. She does know I was very disappointed that she really wasn't ready to move at all. I am now taking a small break to blog, but still have to do the chores I had set for myself for the remainder of the day.

Maybe I should send her to Lindau in Germany & have the nuns teach her. That's what my mom did with me (and Carolyn)!

5 comments:

Myrna
said...

Dear Sis,You have not failed, (my children usually choose to live messy---why I'm not sure) you taught her well, she just didn't choose to implement---this time. Losing the passport is a good "let life be the teacher" I bet that next time she'll do better---but she probably won't keep things to your standard until she's older and wiser :-DLove,M

she's in college....what college kid is SUPPOSED to NOT have wrappers on the floor? psch i am prego and thats all you see across our house....packages of left over food EVERYWHERE and i was taught to be neat too..,.she is in college let her have some fun...one day her head will implode (i dont know what makes your face implode but thats the way the movie ends lol...) anyways she'll catch on...but let the mess catch up to her....you'll be shoocked on how clean she'll remain after that!

Ok, as you well know, Mom tried with us as well. And can you honestly say, when there are no guests in your home that it is neat and tidy? We were both extremely messy as teenagers or have you forgotten the infamous "peanut butter spoon?" You were just as messy my sistol!I am still messy, but in a more orderly way. I have no storage so things stack up (somewhat neatly) around the inside walls of the house. So, I think even if we had all the time in the world, it would still take a LOT of effort to keep things tidy.